Hamilton trails Vettel by just nine points in the championship standings

By
Sam Hall

Apr 15, 2018

LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

Lewis Hamilton did not have one of his better days in Formula 1, but the Mercedes driver and four-time F1 champion managed to set a points record, finish fourth, and gain eight points on championship leader Sebastian Vettel on Sunday in the F1 Chinese Grand Prix.

While Hamilton admitted that he did not have the pace to finish on the podium or compete for the win, he did manage to stay out of trouble. His only close call came in a near-miss incident with Max Verstappen and when Daniel Ricciardo put a move on him.

Hamilton left China nine points behind Vettel, who finished eighth. Hamilton has now gone six races without a win -- his longest such streak since 2013.

By scoring 12 points on Sunday, Hamilton broke the all-time record for consecutive points finishes with 28. Kimi Räikkönen held the previous record of 27 (set in 2012-13).

“I was in no man's land today,” said Hamilton. “I had no pace so was just trying to hold on for whatever I had. I had the older tire on and was running out of it.

“I’m not quite sure (how I see the championship situation) to be honest. Obviously we’ve got a tough battle ahead of us, particularly on my side but also as a team. We’ve been underperforming and yesterday and today have been a disaster on my side so I’ve got to try to rectify that and get myself back into my normal performance mode otherwise, more valuable points will be lost.

“I’m thankful for a couple of incidents that happened ahead today that kept us in the battle.”

2018 Standings

Rank

Points

Wins

Podiums

1

Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari

54

2

2

2

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

45

0

2

3

Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes

40

0

2

4

Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull

37

1

1

5

Kimi Räikkönen, Ferrari

30

0

2

6

Fernando Alonso, McLaren

22

0

0

7

Nico Hülkenberg, Renault

22

0

0

8

Max Verstappen, Red Bull

18

0

0

9

Pierre Gasly, Toro Rosso

12

0

0

10

Kevin Magnussen, Haas

11

0

0

11

Stoffel Vandoorne, McLaren

6

0

0

12

Carlos Sainz Jr., Renault

3

0

0

13

Marcus Ericsson, Sauber

2

0

0

14

Esteban Ocon, Force India

1

0

0

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